Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[dakota381]

Great trip report! You covered everything and posted some amazing pictures!

 

Thanks! This is just a few of the ton of pictures I took. We went to DC to see the Natural History Museum and the Zoo as well. It was a hot week but we had a good time.

[dakota381]

There's no help for Mind Eraser. My ears were bright red and stinging when I got off that monstrosity. Not worth the Tylenol IMO. Kill it!

[FSUFanChris]

I'll be taking my first visit to SFA on Saturday, July 11th. I know 'Theme Parks 101' mentions never going to a park on Saturday but it's literally the only day we can go. How bad will the lines be in the early afternoon?

Also, I am stoked right now. For years, anytime I mention roller coasters around my Grandmother and Great Aunt (both live in Florida), they talk about how they used to drive up north on US 1 to Massachusetts to visit old friends and they would all go to Paragon Park and "ride this HUGE coaster". That coaster was called "Giant Coaster" and I just realized last night that coaster is now Wild One at Six Flags America.

[Password121]

On a Saturday they'll run two trains on most coasters. The dry park never gets too crowded , so I wouldn't expect anything over 20 minutes, save for maybe Batwing, which you should ride at noon when it opens.

[alilstronger]

Mind Eraser does not bang me around much. Then again when I ride a ride I let my body fall where the ride wants it to do so I do not get hurt. This park only gets crowded in the water park and during Fright Fest. The rest of the year Flash Pass is usually rarely needed.

 

Great trip report. This park has come along way since the early 2000's. I kinda miss this being my home park.

[Highridin]

Let me get this straight. You rode Wild One '19' times in a day? I tip my hat to you. Great trip report.

[Highridin]

They put the Mind Eraser and Intimidater 305 in the same sentence....shame..lol..cool that they paid some respect to some of the oldest coasters in the world though.

 

http://www.businessinsider.my/historic-roller-coasters-2015-6/#wq3OVGBsH58vguvF.97

[dakota381]

Mind Eraser does not bang me around much. Then again when I ride a ride I let my body fall where the ride wants it to do so I do not get hurt. This park only gets crowded in the water park and during Fright Fest. The rest of the year Flash Pass is usually rarely needed.

 

Great trip report. This park has come along way since the early 2000's. I kinda miss this being my home park.

 

Thanks! I wish I could've brought myself to try some other techniques on mind eraser but I just couldn't. I didn't bring that much Tylenol in with me.

[dakota381]

Let me get this straight. You rode Wild One '19' times in a day? I tip my hat to you. Great trip report.

 

Not me, my 8 year old stepdaughter did but not in one day. She's officially hooked on coasters.

[Rayj]

What if SFA got a waterpark expansion and coyote creek or gotham city makeover for 2016. Minderaser could recieve a new color scheme. name change, theming, and trains (like the ones on T3 at KK) with some improvements to coyote creek with a new flat ride. OR gotham city can become justice leauge (idk what's going to happen with joker)

[bill_s]

Rode Fireball ... closest I've come to throwing up on a ride, ever. Pouring sweat. I've probably felt as bad but it's hard to imagine. I'm sure I was not ready, definite could have chosen a better time to ride. This was after 3 rides on Roar and 3 rounds with the Mind Eraser, for one thing. I don't think I'll be trying it again, though. Suffice to say exercise caution if you can't tolerate circles or have ever been a bit sick on Berserker, etc.... As to the ride itself, wonderful restraints compared to Berserker's death clamps or a county fair Ring of Fire, totally comfy, quality. It appears smaller than Berserker and definitely circles faster and a bit different. And it does sound a lot like a coaster.

 

Enjoyed Roar again but the bottom of the 2nd decent is shocking. I found that rain cool the ears on Mind Eraser. Enjoyed Renegade Rapids, the real white water raft ride, not water roulette. Skipped Apocalypse (maybe that would have made me skip Fireball ) on to JJ and the big S. Still haven't ridden Ragin Cajun because I rode Fireball first this time. Did manage a few rides on Wild One.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

Would it be worth it to travel 2.5 hours to Six Flags America? With its proximity to Washington D.C., I could go there for a day and SFA for another. However comma, Great Adventure is closer. I've been to SFGAdv once before. My desire to try new things is making me lean towards SFA. My impression of SFA is that it's Six Flags' equivalent of Dorney Park. With Dorney Park being my home park, I've been there many times, and know what the lines are like. If SFA's lines are similar, I could get more rides at SFA than at SFGAdv, which had really long lines when I went.

 

I've heard good reviews of Ride of Steel and Batwing, and I like accelerators, so Joker's Jinx should be enjoyable. However comma, I know how good the rides are at SFGAdv [cough]El Toro, Nitro, Batman,...[/cough]

[DILinator]

Rajun Cajun was interesting. I'm not much for spinning rides but this one had all three of us laughing our arses off.

 

My Brother-in-Law and I rode that a few years ago when it was at SFGAm, and came away with the same reaction. We both laughed virtually the entire time the ride was spinning! I've never laughed so much on a ride before, or since, and we gave the ride ops a good laugh as well as they watched us! I was disappointed the ride was removed from Great America, which is closer, but it just gives me one more reason to go to SF America someday now!

 

Great TR, BTW!

[dakota381]

Rajun Cajun was interesting. I'm not much for spinning rides but this one had all three of us laughing our arses off.

 

My Brother-in-Law and I rode that a few years ago when it was at SFGAm, and came away with the same reaction. We both laughed virtually the entire time the ride was spinning! I've never laughed so much on a ride before, or since, and we gave the ride ops a good laugh as well as they watched us! I was disappointed the ride was removed from Great America, which is closer, but it just gives me one more reason to go to SF America someday now!

 

Great TR, BTW!

 

Thanks! I think it's worth at least a day at SFA and if it's a weekday, you'll be able to ride everything multiple times.

If you like waterparks, make it two days.

[Password121]

Season pass question--I have an unprocessed regular season pass to SFA that has the name of a family member as the owner, who is also the purchaser. Can a friend process this pass to be theirs? Is any identification needed when processing? We're fine with the family members name being on the pass, we just want to use the pass.

[FSUFanChris]

My friend Matt and I got stuck on the final brake run of a Vekoma SLC for 30 minutes at Six Flags America. When we got off, Six Flags was waiting with a tray full of ice waters, gave us 'Exit Boarding Passes' to use on any ride in the park for all three of us (not just the two who were stuck) as well as a free combo meal at almost any place in the park. Once we chose Johnny Rockets, I got in there and handed my 'free pass' to the teenager working the cash register and she looked genuinely confused, having obviously never seeing the coupon before. She calls her manager over and her manager immediately recognized it and explained everything to the employee. She then proceeds to tell me I can get whatever I want on the menu. Not, pick an item, any item. This was, pick whatever you want. I ordered a combo and a shake and she tells me to have a seat and she'll bring it out to me. She came and checked on us after about 5 minutes just to let us know she hasn't forgotten about us.

 

I'm still unsure if this royalty treatment was a great gesture to prevent another overreacting 'Roller Coaster at Six Flags get stuck!' story or because I survived my first SLC.

 

[Highridin]

My friend Matt and I got stuck on the final brake run of a Vekoma SLC for 30 minutes at Six Flags America. When we got off, Six Flags was waiting with a tray full of ice waters, gave us 'Exit Boarding Passes' to use on any ride in the park for all three of us (not just the two who were stuck) as well as a free combo meal at almost any place in the park. Once we chose Johnny Rockets, I got in there and handed my 'free pass' to the teenager working the cash register and she looked genuinely confused, having obviously never seeing the coupon before. She calls her manager over and her manager immediately recognized it and explained everything to the employee. She then proceeds to tell me I can get whatever I want on the menu. Not, pick an item, any item. This was, pick whatever you want. I ordered a combo and a shake and she tells me to have a seat and she'll bring it out to me. She came and checked on us after about 5 minutes just to let us know she hasn't forgotten about us.

 

I'm still unsure if this royalty treatment was a great gesture to prevent another overreacting 'Roller Coaster at Six Flags get stuck!' story or because I survived my first SLC.

 

 

Lol, at surviving first SLC. Hey, good news is that you didn't get stuck in one of the corkscrews; that would have sucked.

[Highridin]

Season pass question--I have an unprocessed regular season pass to SFA that has the name of a family member as the owner, who is also the purchaser. Can a friend process this pass to be theirs? Is any identification needed when processing? We're fine with the family members name being on the pass, we just want to use the pass.

 

Not sure. I know they affix a number with each name. Let me know how it goes.

[Password121]

Season pass question--I have an unprocessed regular season pass to SFA that has the name of a family member as the owner, who is also the purchaser. Can a friend process this pass to be theirs? Is any identification needed when processing? We're fine with the family members name being on the pass, we just want to use the pass.

 

Not sure. I know they affix a number with each name. Let me know how it goes.

I'll see how it goes. I read through the fine print and it doesn't specifically mention anything. I'll make sure we get our money's worth from SFA--we paid our money for these passes, we're going to use them.

[I305forever]

Would it be worth it to travel 2.5 hours to Six Flags America? With its proximity to Washington D.C., I could go there for a day and SFA for another. However comma, Great Adventure is closer. I've been to SFGAdv once before. My desire to try new things is making me lean towards SFA. My impression of SFA is that it's Six Flags' equivalent of Dorney Park. With Dorney Park being my home park, I've been there many times, and know what the lines are like. If SFA's lines are similar, I could get more rides at SFA than at SFGAdv, which had really long lines when I went.

 

I've heard good reviews of Ride of Steel and Batwing, and I like accelerators, so Joker's Jinx should be enjoyable. However comma, I know how good the rides are at SFGAdv [cough]El Toro, Nitro, Batman,...[/cough]

 

I live very close to SFA and I can tell you from first hand experience that Dorney is better. However, the price of admisssion is fairly cheap and in addition to there being some good coaster like RoS, Batwing, JJ, and Wild One it has a pretty big waterpark. So I say you should go or wait a few years as in the past few years the park has been improving greatly in terms of cleanliness and overall quality.

[FlyGuy]

My friend Matt and I got stuck on the final brake run of a Vekoma SLC for 30 minutes at Six Flags America. When we got off, Six Flags was waiting with a tray full of ice waters, gave us 'Exit Boarding Passes' to use on any ride in the park for all three of us (not just the two who were stuck) as well as a free combo meal at almost any place in the park. Once we chose Johnny Rockets, I got in there and handed my 'free pass' to the teenager working the cash register and she looked genuinely confused, having obviously never seeing the coupon before. She calls her manager over and her manager immediately recognized it and explained everything to the employee. She then proceeds to tell me I can get whatever I want on the menu. Not, pick an item, any item. This was, pick whatever you want. I ordered a combo and a shake and she tells me to have a seat and she'll bring it out to me. She came and checked on us after about 5 minutes just to let us know she hasn't forgotten about us.

 

I'm still unsure if this royalty treatment was a great gesture to prevent another overreacting 'Roller Coaster at Six Flags get stuck!' story or because I survived my first SLC.

 

 

Former SFA employee and I can explain to you all something. Basically Six Flags parks have a satisfaction system we call GSS. (Guest Satisfaction Scores) It's what we use to see how our guest think and feel.. I believe they try to survey guest as they leave the park or restaurants ? Anyway's GSS are basically every Six Flags money makers.. The higher your scores are the more attention your park will get. SFA has raised 0.11 in ratings as of June. That is great our goal for the end of this season is 8.5 & We are at 7.89. However attendance at SFA has been piss poor. Even July 4th was pitiful, it was a very slow day.. I was in the management field and even I got to go home early that day! That's how slow it was. If we could get the kind of attendance we got in our 2012/2013 year's we would be great.

 

Anywho the reason the gave you so many incentives was to try to ensure that your whole visit at six flags wasn't you being able to say "We got stuck on a ride for 30 minutes". No they wanted to give you ice water, they wanted to give you flash passes, they wanted to give you free meals.. anything to win you over so that when you fill out the survey you can atleast have 1 positive comment?

 

It just sucks because when the park was in the busiest years was when we had such a bad rep, everything from being "dirty" to rude employee's. Now we are shaped up and we just don't have the kind of attendance that we used to have.

[Password121]

^It's a shame attendance isn't where it needs to be these days, as my most recent (2014/15) trips to the park have been my best visits ever. The park is in the best shape its been in years, IMO.

 

Since you say you are in management, can you answer my season pass question from a few posts back? I appreciate it!

 

Edit: Also, you mention the higher the GSS scores, the more attention the park will get. What exactly does this mean? Do you mean from SF corporate in terms of cap-ex budget?

Edited July 14, 2015 by Password121

[FSUFanChris]

^^ Thanks for that. It's cool to get a little insight into it all. For me, I understand that these things happen so I was joking around with the ride-op who came over to check on us, trying to ease the tension on the train. Everyone got off laughing and there wasn't any kind of extra commotion. I was completely content with continuing to enjoy my day at the park. I wouldn't have let this affect my views on the experience but when they took care of us the way they did, it really made me appreciate the park even more.

[Highridin]

Season pass question--I have an unprocessed regular season pass to SFA that has the name of a family member as the owner, who is also the purchaser. Can a friend process this pass to be theirs? Is any identification needed when processing? We're fine with the family members name being on the pass, we just want to use the pass.

 

Not sure. I know they affix a number with each name. Let me know how it goes.

I'll see how it goes. I read through the fine print and it doesn't specifically mention anything. I'll make sure we get our money's worth from SFA--we paid our money for these passes, we're going to use them.

 

If I were you, I would go to the customer relations hut. The folks in the season pass place usually do not know the answers to those types of questions.

[Highridin]

My friend Matt and I got stuck on the final brake run of a Vekoma SLC for 30 minutes at Six Flags America. When we got off, Six Flags was waiting with a tray full of ice waters, gave us 'Exit Boarding Passes' to use on any ride in the park for all three of us (not just the two who were stuck) as well as a free combo meal at almost any place in the park. Once we chose Johnny Rockets, I got in there and handed my 'free pass' to the teenager working the cash register and she looked genuinely confused, having obviously never seeing the coupon before. She calls her manager over and her manager immediately recognized it and explained everything to the employee. She then proceeds to tell me I can get whatever I want on the menu. Not, pick an item, any item. This was, pick whatever you want. I ordered a combo and a shake and she tells me to have a seat and she'll bring it out to me. She came and checked on us after about 5 minutes just to let us know she hasn't forgotten about us.

 

I'm still unsure if this royalty treatment was a great gesture to prevent another overreacting 'Roller Coaster at Six Flags get stuck!' story or because I survived my first SLC.

 

Former SFA employee and I can explain to you all something. Basically Six Flags parks have a satisfaction system we call GSS. (Guest Satisfaction Scores) It's what we use to see how our guest think and feel.. I believe they try to survey guest as they leave the park or restaurants ? Anyway's GSS are basically every Six Flags money makers.. The higher your scores are the more attention your park will get. SFA has raised 0.11 in ratings as of June. That is great our goal for the end of this season is 8.5 & We are at 7.89. However attendance at SFA has been piss poor. Even July 4th was pitiful, it was a very slow day.. I was in the management field and even I got to go home early that day! That's how slow it was. If we could get the kind of attendance we got in our 2012/2013 year's we would be great.

 

Anywho the reason the gave you so many incentives was to try to ensure that your whole visit at six flags wasn't you being able to say "We got stuck on a ride for 30 minutes". No they wanted to give you ice water, they wanted to give you flash passes, they wanted to give you free meals.. anything to win you over so that when you fill out the survey you can atleast have 1 positive comment?

 

It just sucks because when the park was in the busiest years was when we had such a bad rep, everything from being "dirty" to rude employee's. Now we are shaped up and we just don't have the kind of attendance that we used to have.

 

July 4th was a fluke, mainly because they were threatening rain that day. I've visited the park more than I've ever had. To me, this is the best year in the last several. I honestly do not think the signage is good enough on the highways. You'd be surprised how many people do not know the park is there.